Polka Doodles - Quick and Easy Christmas Cards

Morning everyone, it's Friday again so we have another Polka Doodles challenge for you which this week has been set by teamie Jenny. Jenny wants to help us all out with the Christmas card marathon so she would like to see your Quick and Easy Christmas Cards.
I decided to do a favourite trick of mine to make cards in bulk without getting too many repeats as I always like to have different cards to give to family and the neighbours - as they're all in each others homes over the festive season, it's nice for them to have a card from me that isn't the same as everyone else's if you know what I mean!
My trick is to use the same basic layout for the cards and then vary the focal point to make the cards look more individual. I've made 4 here so that you can see what I mean:

I've used 2 of the pretty papers on the Sundae of Seasons CD to make the simple background. I then chose some of the images from the Winter collection and cut them out (there are lots more to choose from)
I made a background panel for each image from white card, cutting some with a circle and oval cutter and embossing them with the Cuttlebug snowflakes folder. If you want to be really quick, you could stop here but I decided to add some sparkle by swiping with ink and embossing with crystal powder. I used Brilliance inks in some cases which gives a gorgeous pearly effect when embossed.
I added simple greetings matted on red card to finish.
Don't forget to visit the Design Team for some more great ideas.
I'm also entering my cards into the following challenges:
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Dry Embossing
Craft Your Passion Challenges - Anything Goes

Merry, Merry Christmas

A bit early I know but I had to call this post something! Another Christmas card to share with you that fits a few challenges which are listed underneath the card details.
Very hard to think of Christmas on such a gorgeous sunny day and I've been out this morning as I had to do a search for a posh frock to wear to a ball next month and finally managed to find one I liked that wasn't black (this makes me look like death warmed up if you know what I mean!!!).
I also have some good news to share as yesterday I found out that my bird cage card for the Play Date Cafe challenge 49 has gained a Cream In Our Coffee award which is a lovely surprise so thank you ladies.
So on to my card:

I've again used my cute Penny Black reindeer stamp (2803K Let's Play) and stamped them on ecru card with VersaFine Toffee ink. I cut the image out with a circle cutter and sponged Umber and Topaz VersaColor ink around the edges.
I added 2 circle mats of plaid paper from the Polka Doodles Sundae of Seasons CD and made a circle shaped easel card from red mottled card.
I then added a further piece of the blue plaid paper on the base and a Penny Black greeting (3885H so very merry). A red bow finished off the card.
I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Don't Be Square
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Shaped Card
Alphabet Challenge - X for Xmas

AiFactory Challenge 31 - Mothers Day

Hello everyone, I'm back with the next challenge over at AiFactory after a very difficult couple of days. I somehow managed to scratch my left eye on Monday and didn't realise until the evening when I went to take out my contact lenses (I'm blind as a bat without lol) and found that half my left eye was bright red. The next morning you could see the scratch so I haven't been able to wear a contact lens in that eye and as you can imagine, it's made everything really difficult!!!
The challenge we have this week is to make a project with Mum in mind and the DT were given some really lovely images to work with:

 This is the one I was asked to make my project with and I also managed to sneak the one below in as well.

Here's the card I made with the images:

I made my own background paper for this using white opaque Stazon ink for the resist technique. The clear stamp set I used is Papermania PMA9071004 Floral. I stamped a solid flower at random with the white ink and let it dry. I sponged Dried Marigold and Spiced Marmalade Distress ink over the top and then stamped on an open flower with the darker orange ink.  I then stamped on another flower with Tea Dye Distress ink.
I printed out the Mothers Day image 4 times and coloured various elements to build up my decoupage image. I assembled the pieces with foam tape and double sided tape. I printed out the flower 4 times and coloured this in a similar way to build up my 3D flower.
I sponged blue ink around the edges of the main panel and stuck this on a mat of deeper turquoise. I assembled the card with a piece of doyley on one side and some buttons tied with thread.
I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:
One Stitch At A Time - Anything Goes
Cupcake Craft Challenge - Make Your Own Flower
The Pink Elephant Challenge - Nature
Pollycraft Challenges - Anything Goes
CRAFT Challenge - Buttons

Thanks for looking,
Fliss x